Miss Sanguine
by JediChick101
Summary: Billy-Ray's got himself a girlfriend. A ruthless hand for hire with elemental powers beyond anything the world has ever seen. They tell each other everything, but there's something she's been keeping from him. And all the while she has a darker motive. But why does she want revenge? What could Skulduggery possibly have done to a girl he has never seen?
1. Prologue

**And finally, may I present the first chapter of the long awaited Miss Sanguine. I know I've had quite a while of Fanfiction silence (apologies for anyone reading ADMF), but that is because of this story. I'm trying a new fanficcing technique: writing the whole story (or most of it) before posting anything. This way if I run into writer's block or plot complications I can go back and change things. Also, when it's released, it means frequent chapter updates. **

**I am dedicating this story to a fellow fanficcer, Sly Sparrow (). Sly really touched me with her praise of my other SP story: A Dead Man's Family. I definitely don't deserve half of the things she says, but I really appreciate the encouragement. **

**Prologue**

It had started out as just a job. Storm Slasher had been waiting; taking jobs to pay the bills while she trained. Preparing herself for any and every situation. Never stopping, never hesitating, and always sure of herself. She was almost ready when she met him. Billy-Ray Sanguine.

At first she had tried to keep communication to a minimum, trying only to speak with him when absolutely necessary. But, like most guys, Billy-Ray seemed pretty keen to strike up a conversation with her. However, _unlike_ most guys, he was intriguing to Storm. The way he talked about life and death stuff so casually. The hot Texan accent. The rather sad jokes. The confidence which he somehow managed to keep from being annoying. Storm found that she and Billy-Ray actually had a bit in common. They chatted as they drove to their target's location and laughed―actually laughed! The last time she'd laughed was when a target tripped out of his window and did her job for her. Storm told that story and she and Billy-Ray had laughed together.

They'd both been hired by some random guy who wanted some other guy dead. Who and why wasn't important. Only the job was. Of course, Storm hadn't needed help, but it was a two-person job. Or at least, the man who hired them thought so; one to distract the guards and one to take care of the target. No one knew that if Storm wanted to she could have massacred everyone inside. She always held back, not wanting to draw attention to herself before she had confirmed she was ready. Ready for the one hit which had fuelled her for several hundred years. Her toughest target.

After their mission, as they drove to collect their pay, Billy-Ray had asked her if she would like to go for a drink, to celebrate. He shined his sunglasses to avoided looking at her. Regardless of the darkness, Storm left her own shades in place. No one had seen her eyes in hundreds of years and lived to speak of them. That wasn't about to change.

So they had their drink, exchanged contact details and Billy-Ray had dropped her by her car. It was the first time she had ever had someone's phone number in her contacts list. After that, they had met up many times and gotten to know each other better. Before long, they had decided they were in a relationship and were hiring themselves out for jobs together.

Then, one night, Billy-Ray had mentioned something about the skeleton detective and his partner. A girl named Valkyrie Cain. Storm couldn't believe it. They both hated him. They both wanted him dead. Well, dead_er._ And at that moment, Storm knew she it was time. She had smiled and turned to him. "Billy-Ray, I think it's time we take our revenge on Skulduggery Pleasant."

**I know what you're thinking. Short as RWBY episode, right? Well, don't worry; I'll be updating this story frequently, probably once each week. I know a short prologue starring an OC isn't much to go on, but I hope I've got you intrigued enough to read the next chapter ^_^**


	2. Five Months Later

**Uh, yeah, this is up really late… I had a TONNE of assessment the last two weeks I'm sorry! I suck at keeping time promises. **

Someone wanted a file. Storm didn't know why. Didn't care. All she cared about was that the job was anti-Irish-Sanctuary―just what she needed. As she ran, Storm smiled to herself. After hundreds of years of training, after a thousand tiny, irrelevant jobs, she was finally ready. She was finally taking action. The last fifty years of her life had been spent subtly carrying out jobs against various different Sanctuaries. It wasn't easy. Not the jobs, they were simple. The evidence, that was difficult. She had to leave just the right amount behind. Tiny things; not enough to be noticed until the time was right. A blurred photograph from a security camera. One or two witnesses recounting a blonde girl running from the scene…

It wasn't easy getting Billy-Ray to take it slow and to be subtle but Storm, being Storm, convinced him eventually. The man who hired them―Storm couldn't quite remember who he was―had not just paid for the retrieval of the file, but also the assassination of a certain Sanctuary agent who had probably seen something they weren't supposed to. Being the subtle one, Storm was retrieving the file, leaving Billy-Ray to kill the target.

Storm moved quickly, her eyes darting about as she scanned the shelves. W, w, w. Where was it? She silently leapt behind one of the many shelves as she heard someone pass the entrance to the room. The danger―not that it was danger to Storm―averted, Storm continued her search. She took a left. E. Another left. J. A right. B. Did they not organise this place at all? Had they just shoved everything on the shelves?

W, w, w. She turned again. P. And again. H. She needed to hurry. The timing was crucial. Crucial. She needed to get the file and be ready to get out of there by six o'clock. Six o'clock, sharp. Six o'clock was when the janitor would go to the lower levels to sweep the floor. Six o'clock was when he would open the storage cupboard. Six o'clock was when he would see the cleaver head resting neatly atop his bucket. Six o'clock. Three minutes. Three minutes to find the file and get to the other side of the Sanctuary, where she and Billy-Ray would meet up. Three minutes, assuming the obsessive-compulsive janitor wasn't early for once.

L. She turned left. B again. Y. A right then a left. W! Finally! Now, the right file… Witches? No. Western Samoa Sanctuary? No. Warlocks. Yes! Storm snatched the folder off the shelf and wasted no time in getting the hell out of there.

Billy-Ray was a tunneler, one of the few and probably the best, but his injury―the injury given to him by Valkyrie Cain―had taken its toll. Therefore, they had decided only to use Sanguine's tunnelling ability when it was absolutely necessary.

Storm paused at the entrance to one of the main hallways as several mages rushed past shouting frantically. It had worked, then. Everyone would be scouring the castle for Billy-Ray Sanguine. And there would be just enough witnesses, just enough evidence, to bring her out of the shadows. She would be a mystery. They would need a skilled detective to piece the puzzle together. They would need Skulduggery Pleasant.

Pushing her black aviator sunglasses further up her nose, she ran around corner after corner. The corridor she was travelling down was usually empty, but she had no guarantee it would stay that way in an emergency. Speed, that's what she needed. Forget subtlety, just run. She wasn't reading the air, or paying attention at all. That meant she smashed right into the man walking down the corridor.

Storm tumbled to the ground, rolled quickly and bounced back up on her feet. That's when she saw her sunglasses lying on the ground. No! Damn it, not now. Storm quickly snatched her shades off the ground, but it was too late. The man looked up at her face, his eyes widened as she met his gaze, and then her scythes were in her hands and the man's head was rolling across the ground. Storm quickly slid a brown leather scabbard over the blade of each scythe and strapped them to her back. She picked the file up off the ground and continued running.

The scythes weren't any old scythes, and Storm wasn't any old amateur. Ninety-two years ago, on the twenty-eighth of July, Storm was on her way to assassinate a particularly clueless American mage who some people had grown tired of. It was on this day that Storm had her first actual fight with a Cleaver. It was interesting, even difficult at the beginning. But those two hundred and fifty years of intensive training had not gone to waste. She had ducked under the Cleaver's swing, come up close to him, ripped the scythe from his grip, spun and beheaded him with one swing.

The scythe, it was so smooth and sharp… so final… If you got hit but one of these, you might as well kiss life goodbye. So she kept it, trained hard and practiced. Then, the next time she encountered a Cleaver, he didn't last twenty seconds. Just before she left, Storm picked up the dead Cleaver's scythe. She tried swinging them together, but they were a bit too long to try anything fancy. So she took the second scythe home and shortened the handle so that it was about three quarters of its original length. It felt so much better, so much easier and more comfortable, that Storm did the same to her first scythe and trained herself to use two. Storm loved her scythes.

She didn't run into any more trouble on the way to meet Billy-Ray. The room where they met was boarded up after part of the wall collapsed. Billy-Ray was peeking out of the door, and smiled when he saw Storm. He quickly sent a text message and then put his phone in his pocket. She smiled, held up the file, and gently kissed him on the cheek. "You right with putting a hundred metres between us and the Sanctuary?"  
"For another kiss, maybe." he grinned. Storm obliged, and as she kissed him they began to sink into the ground.

They rose up a little less than a hundred metresfrom the Irish Sanctuary in Roarhaven, Billy-Ray clutching his stomach and gritting his teeth. Storm quickly moved to support him and looked around till she spotted the entrance to the Sanctuary. She couldn't see any cleavers, and was having trouble deciding if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She decided on bad.

Billy-Ray managed to straighten up, leaning against streetlamp and pulling out his phone. "He'll be here any minute." he informed Storm.  
"That's good," she replied, holding out her hand and reading the air. "That's not."

Storm chucked the file on the ground, whipped out her scythes and spun around, just as a cleaver launched itself at her. "Whoa!" Billy-Ray said, stumbling backwards and fumbling around for his straight razor. Storm's scythes were already in her hands.

She spun the blades faster than anyone would have thought possible. Certainly faster than a cleaver. With one scythe she came in low from the left, and with the other she came in high and from the right. The cleaver blocked the swipe at his head, but could not move fast enough to avoid the other blade. His protective clothing stopped the blade from slicing him in half, but before he could react she had moved her blades and severed his head from his body. The cleaver's corpse collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Storm could hear shouts in the distance. Somebody else had obviously noticed them. She could just make out people running towards them. "Where is he?" she growled. The words had barely left her mouth when a silver sports car sped around the corner, engines roaring. The driver turned sharply, fishtailing the car around so that it faced the direction it came from. "Get in!" Seamus Ysani, yelled in a Scottish accent. He was a fit man who looked around thirty, with slightly spiked orange hair streaked with blood red highlights.

Seamus jumped into the back seat, retrieved his rifle from the floor and began firing at the rapidly advancing group of mages and cleavers from the Sanctuary. Billy-Ray grabbed the warlock file off the ground and got into the passenger seat, leaving room for Storm to slide in behind the wheel.

Storm stamped her foot on the accelerator. The engine revved and the vehicle sped around the corner, tyres squealing as she floored it.

**And so it begins. The game is on! Next chapter will be from the POV of the good guys. But I'll give you a heads up, I'm pretty bad at writing Valkyrie accurately. I'll try my best to fix that while I'm editing; I need to give her more lip.**


	3. An Interesting Investigation

**I am (very mildly) proud to (finally) submit the 3****rd**** chapter of this Skulduggery Pleasant fanfic, featuring all-new Skulduggery Pleasant! **

When Valkyrie arrived at the peer the Bentley was already parked in its usual spot. Skulduggery motioned for her to get in and, after she had done up her seatbelt, quickly took off down the street.

"There better be a good reason you pulled me out of the house while I was in the middle of eating my favourite meal," Valkyrie growled. Skulduggery's call telling her to meet up had been brief. Much to Valkyrie's annoyance, he had hung up before she could ask why they were meeting. That being said, he had hung up before she could say _anything._

"There was a break in at the Sanctuary. Billy-Ray Sanguine and a young woman tunnelled out and were picked up by a man in a silver sports car. They escaped, with the blood of three Sanctuary workers and one cleaver on their hands."  
"Do we know _why_ they broke into the Sanctuary?"  
"Well, Sanguine being Sanguine, we can assume that they were probably hired to take someone out. But, if that's it, why would they kill their target _in _the Sanctuary?" Skulduggery thought aloud.  
"I don't know. To make a statement? To show off?"  
"Maybe they were bored."  
"Perhaps their target didn't leave the Sanctuary often and they weren't patient."  
"I would probably break into the Sanctuary if I was a bored hitman," Skulduggery said. "It would be fun."

After a bit more driving, they turned onto the Roarhaven road that passed the Sanctuary. "Wow," Valkyrie said, observing the scene. There were mages everywhere, some being organised into small groups to be questioned by people with clipboards. Temporary lighting had been set up to assist the one miserable little street lamp where the body of the dead cleaver lay, cut off from everyone else by yellow tape. Peering closer, Valkyrie spotted cracks on the ground, but turned away when her eyes skimmed over the first droplets of blood.

Looking back into the crowd of people, she spotted Ghastly and waved with a smile. He did his best to smile back as walked over, but Valkyrie could tell he was tired and really didn't want to be there.

"Skulduggery, Valkyrie. I'm glad you're here. I was just―"  
"Elder Bespoke!" a middle aged man said, walking over with a clipboard in his hand.  
"Skulduggery, Valkyrie, this is Drew Grant. He's leading the investigation," Ghastly said.  
"Sorry to interrupt," Grant began, "but I must tell you that we have confirmed that the scythes wielded by the female intruder were exactly the same as those used by cleavers. At first we thought they were different because of the handle length, but it appears she just had them shortened. I'll have some people go back through the files of unexplained cleaver killings and see if they can find any case when a cleaver's scythe disappeared."  
"Good. Thank you, Drew." Drew nodded in response and walked away.

"She had a cleaver scythe?" Valkyrie asked.  
"She had two. And it looks like she was damn good with them."  
"You were there?" Skulduggery asked. Ghastly shook his head.  
"A witness caught her on camera, but we haven't been able to match her to anyone on file. It didn't help that she was wearing sunglasses, either."  
"Can we see the video?" Skulduggery asked.  
"Right this way," Ghastly said, leading them into the Sanctuary.  
"So, sunglasses," Valkyrie said. "That's a bit weird. I mean, she's working with Sanguine and wearing sunglasses, at night."  
"Maybe they've done a job together previously," Ghastly suggested.  
"Perhaps," Skulduggery said.

Ghastly directed them into a small room which appeared to be the security centre. A man was seated at a desk in front of the far wall, which was completely covered in screens displaying live feed from different security cameras throughout the Sanctuary. They walked over to the man, who nodded at them. "Elder Bespoke. Pleasant, Cain," he said, leaning towards a small computer screen and plugging in a phone that lay on the desk. After fiddling with a few things, the man brought up a video from the phone's camera onto the screen.

"It's not very good quality. It was taken from quite a distance away and it's shaky. We've zoomed in and enhanced it with sigils as much as we can, but it still difficult to make out many details. This video really just shows what this woman can do, not who she is. But, we've got two other pictures which could be used to identify her," the man said, starting the video. Before Valkyrie even had a chance to register what was happening, the cleaver's head was on the ground and someone standing near the person filming screamed.

The fight was quick. Way too quick. It barely lasted five seconds. Five seconds to kill a cleaver. The woman fought with skill and precision, proficiency which only came with years of practice.

"It seems she has some experience with cleavers," Skulduggery commented. "Play it one more time." The man obliged and Skulduggery studied the tape while Valkyrie opted to turn away and stare at the suddenly very interesting monitor showing an empty hallway. She cringed when she heard the scream.

"Definitely very experienced. Fifty or sixty years, at least," Skulduggery said.  
"Did you want to see those still images?" the man asked.  
"Show us."

"We've shown the pictures around, run them through all the databases we can get into, and nothing's come up. As far as our research goes, she doesn't exist," Ghastly said as the man brought up two images of the woman on screen. "Once again, not the best quality, but it's all we've got."

The woman appeared younger than Valkyrie had pictured. She looked to be in her mid to late twenties, around Tanith's age. She had straight blonde hair that fell halfway down her back and creamy, pale skin. Her eyes were hidden behind stylish black sunglasses. She wore a black studded biker jacket, with jeans, well used boots and had two straps over her back, presumably for her scythes.

After she had finished studying the first image of the woman, Valkyrie looked at the second picture. This one showed her in a silver sports car with Billy-Ray Sanguine and a man with orange, red streaked hair.

Realising the number plate of the car was visible, Valkyrie spoke up. "Did you track the licence plate?"  
"We did," Ghastly said "It belongs to a mortal man who reported the car as stolen two days ago."

"Elder Bespoke, Detectives," Valkyrie turned around to see Drew Grant standing in the doorway, still clutching the clipboard. "Sorry to intrude, once again, but we have just made a most interesting discovery. We contacted the American Sanctuary to try and gather any extra information on Sanguine we haven't previously known or had access to. After giving them a quick summary of the situation here, they went back through their incident files and realised that nineteen years ago a young woman with blonde hair, wielding two scythes, was caught briefly on a security camera fleeing the Sanctuary. Several minutes later, they discovered the dead body of one of their mages."

"So she's broken into a Sanctuary before? If it's her, I mean." It was then Valkyrie realised how independent each Sanctuary really was. For internal matters, they kept to themselves. Of course they didn't report every break-in to the other Sanctuaries. It was a total coincidence that the woman had been rediscovered. If not for Sanguine's presence, she might never have been noticed.

Skulduggery turned to Grant. "Contact some other Sanctuaries. Ask them to check their files and see if this woman pops up anywhere else. Chances are if she's willing to break into the Irish and American Sanctuaries, she was game to break into some others as well."

Grant nodded and began to leave when his phone buzzed. He paused as he took it out of his pocket, reading it quickly. A large grin began to spread across his face. "We've got an I.D. on the driver: Seamus Ysani. He's an adept with advanced reaction time, making him an excellent getaway driver. Unfortunately for him, his brain isn't quite so fast. Being a professional in his business requires lots of different cars. He used his real address when giving details to hire the last car he used."  
"How do you know it's his real address?"  
"We had an agent out near him check out the address. She saw him walk inside."

"Well then," Skulduggery said, "let's go pay him a visit, shall we?"

**Et voila! I hope to the high heavens that I at least have you all intrigued. And next chapter we'll feature the amazingly unpossessed Tanith Low! Yay! **


	4. When the Doorbell Rings

**And here's another chapter! Nuff' said. **

Seamus Ysani's house showed the tell-tale signs of someone who wasn't at home often. The grass was overgrown, weeds sprouted up everywhere, the paint on the door was peeling, there were several tiles missing from the roof and the garden was nothing but wilting flowers―despite the watering can stationed nearby. A light was on inside, shining eerily through the drawn curtains. The house had two garage doors, though Valkyrie doubted Ysani lived with anyone.

She and Skulduggery were crouched low behind a tree, safely hidden in a blanket of darkness. "This is it, right? A normal-looking house just outside of Dublin, with a short driveway―probably for short-notice calls―plenty of space between his house and his neighbours' and lots of trees to stop people from prying."  
"Still, best to keep things quiet. We wouldn't want people reporting gunshots to the police before Geoffrey Scrutinous got to them."  
"So, what are we going to do? Break the back door down? Smash a window? Scare him out? _Smoke _him out?" Valkyrie grew increasingly excited.  
"What? No. We're going to knock." Valkyrie's face fell.  
"Knock?" she repeated, disappointed.  
"We could ring the doorbell, if you'd prefer."  
"Shouldn't we be using the element of surprise?"  
"I'm sure he'll be very surprised when the doorbell rings."

Grumbling, Valkyrie trailed Skulduggery as he walked out to the centre of the driveway and followed it up to the front door of the house. "I don't think this is the best idea."  
"Nonsense," Skulduggery said "You have faith in Tanith's abilities, don't you?"  
"Yeah, but I have less faith in your plan." Valkyrie glanced up at the roof of the house. Somewhere up there, hidden in the shadows, Tanith Low stood waiting to quite literally 'get the drop' on Seamus Ysani.

Skulduggery walked quickly up onto the porch and rang the doorbell, making sure to stand directly in front of the peephole in the door. After a few seconds Valkyrie heard a soft thump; probably Ysani jumping back from the door when he saw Skulduggery. After that a long silence followed. Valkyrie opened her mouth to say something, but Skulduggery held up a hand to stop her.

Suddenly, someone cried out and there was a thud as something heavy hit the ground, followed by an excessive amount of swearing. Skulduggery walked at a relaxed pace around to the back of the house, where Ysani lay, face up, with Tanith's sword hovering just above his throat. Skulduggery pulled Ysani to his feet and cuffed him, leading back around the house with Valkyrie and Tanith in tow. Just around the corner the Bentley, Tanith's motorbike and several Sanctuary cars were parked.

"Nice job."  
"Between you and me, Val, for a second I thought he'd get away. You know how he has advanced reaction time? Well, just after I jumped off the roof he spun around, and I thought he might pull a gun or take off or something. Luckily for me, he just sought of froze."  
"I guess it would be a shock. You aid the escape of fugitives, then that night the skeleton detective turns up at your door, and before you can make your escape a blonde wearing brown leather and armed with a sword jumps on you from your roof. Maybe the moonlight caught your hair and he thought you were an angel."  
"He looked pretty scared to me."  
"Maybe he thought you were going to escort him to the gates of hell," Valkyrie said, noticing how Tanith's hair seemed to shimmer in the moon's glow. Tanith grinned as she climbed onto her bike. "If he was thinking that, he was right. I'd hate to do time in the Roarhaven Sanctuary prison."

Waving as Tanith sped off, Valkyrie took her seat in the Bentley. She was so grateful to be able to call the blonde from Britain her friend. Valkyrie hadn't had many friends in her life; certainly not as many as other people. If the Receptacle had deactivated before the remnant had left Tanith, Valkyrie didn't know how she would have coped.

"I'm going to interrogate Ysani back at the Sanctuary. I'll drop you home."  
"No way! I want to find out who that woman was and who hired her and Sanguine." Valkyrie folded her arms across her chest. "We're not going to find anything out tonight," Skulduggery told her.  
"But you said you were―"  
"He's not going to tell us anything at the start. There are people going through his house right now. By tomorrow, they'll have found anything interesting _and _gone through his phone and bank account records."  
"So why are you interrogating him before they're done?"  
"We don't want to give him hours to perfect a fake story. That would be silly."  
"So you're going to spend all night interrogating him?"  
"Heavens no, that would be terribly boring. I might send Grant in at some point, just to mess up Ysani's plans, but it's best to keep to only one or two interrogators. Things can get confusing."  
"Okay then." Valkyrie stifled a yawn, "Take me home."

**A bitter shorter than the last one, but I hope you enjoyed. Please leave a comment, it really helps me out. **


	5. Negotiating

**Guys, I am SO SO SO SO sorry this took so long! I apologize to Realtawit in particular, because I kinda said this would be up last week… In my defense, I had SO MUCH stuff on I haven't had time. Anyway, now that that's done… READ.**

A soft buzzing sound woke Valkyrie from her sleep. She reached over tiredly to look at the new text message on her phone. It was from Skulduggery, telling her that he would pick her up in fifteen minutes. It was still dark outside, so her parents would definitely still be in bed and Alice wouldn't have woken yet, either.

After a quick shower, Valkyrie let her reflection out of the mirror and got dressed in her usual black outfit. "You don't think Ysani will talk," the reflection said, pulling on a pair of jeans.  
"Maybe a little, but from what everyone's been saying about that woman I have a feeling that encountering her _and _Sanguine would make you want to keep quiet."  
"He might not if he's offered a deal. If he thinks it's safe to talk, that is."  
"They've broken in before. Chances are they could do it again."

Valkyrie knew that there would be many more cleavers ready to face the mystery woman if she returned to silence Ysani, and sigils to stop Sanguine, but she couldn't help but wonder how much of a difference more cleavers would make. If that's what the woman was capable of _without _magic, Valkyrie didn't even want to know what discipline she studied. That is, if she even _used _magic. But, to get so good, she must have spent most of her time studying basic, non-magic combat, right?

The Bentley pulled up a little way down the street and Valkyrie opened her bedroom window. "Bye," the reflection said softly, as Valkyrie jumped out and landed softly on the ground outside, using the air to cushion her landing. She made her way swiftly down the street to where Skulduggery had pulled up and got in without being seen; there wasn't anyone up this early. Hazel eyes peeked out from beneath coppery hair and followed her as she sat down; a new façade of Skulduggery's.

"Did he talk?" Valkyrie asked, doing up her seatbelt as the car began to move.  
"Barely. No matter how much I annoyed him. He's denied having any prior knowledge of the Sanctuary break-in and claims never to have spoken to either Sanguine or the woman before they hired him. He seems to have forgotten about Sanguine's name on his contacts list. They been exchanging calls for over a year, too often to just be about a job."  
"They're friends?"  
"So it seems."  
"And what's the bet that they've had a chat about Miss Sanguine?"

Skulduggery tilted his head. "Miss Sanguine?" Skulduggery's eyebrows were raised far higher than would be considered normal, his forehead becoming overly crinkled. That was what happened when you gave a face to someone who had had nothing but a skull for hundreds of years. "We can't just keep calling her _the woman_," Valkyrie scoffed. "I mean, come on: with the glasses, bladed weapons and blonde hair? She's like Sanguine gender-swapped."  
"Miss Sanguine it is, then."

Grant met them at the main entrance to the Sanctuary and led them through to the cells. "Ysani's been expecting someone for a while now. Hopefully his anticipation will make him slip."  
"He has no way of denying knowing Sanguine now. He'll say something."

They left Grant at the entrance of the interrogation room. Valkyrie took up her usual spot beside the door and Ysani struggled to crane his neck around to see who was entering the room. Skulduggery sat down at the desk in front of Ysani, who groaned and let out a string of choice words. "You again? You'd think that the least they could do in return for questioning me is giving me an interrogator who's _serious _about what he's doing."  
"I am _very _serious when it comes to interrogation. For example, I am being serious when I tell you that we were able to trace your phone record and know you have been in contact with Sanguine for months. You're not exactly the smartest liar, are you?"

Ysani growled. "So," Skulduggery said, "Are you going to tell us about what he's been up to lately? Or about his associate?"  
"Not for free, I ain't."  
"If it's a matter of setting you free, I'm afraid―"  
"No," Ysani said. "I don't want freedom. I'd prefer my life, if you don't mind. I want to be transferred to a remote, high-security prison, where _she _can't get to me. I want a private, first-class cell, with two personal highly-trained combatants guarding me 24 hours a day."  
"You seem pretty scared of her."  
"Anyone who isn't is an idiot."  
"What information will you give us in return?"

Ysani leaned back in his chair with a smirk on his face. "Well, let's see… I could give you her discipline and what country she's from. I could tell you her name. And, I also know who she's trying to kill." Valkyrie perked up at this.  
"How would you know if she's targeting someone outside of your job together?" At that, Ysani laughed.  
"I know because Billy-Ray's a bragger, and when he gets a hot new girlfriend he ain't gonna keep quiet about it."

A girlfriend? Billy-Ray Sanguine had a girlfriend? A girlfriend who was also a sunglass-wearing mercenary? A hired killer? She was _definitely _going to be called Miss Sanguine now.

"Who has she been hired to kill?"  
"Hired? She hasn't been _hired _by anyone. She doesn't care about money. All she seems to care about is cars, Billy-Ray and revenge."  
"Revenge for what?"  
"I'm not telling you anything else until I'm in my first-class prison cell."  
"Why did she tell you this?"  
"It was a long car ride and people get bored. As I said, she's a bit of a car lover herself, but you can't really be your own getaway driver."

Skulduggery rose from his seat and led Valkyrie out of the room. Ghastly, Grant and several other Sanctuary workers stood outside waiting for them. Grant held an iPad in front of him, which must have been getting feed from the security cameras in the room.

"Ysani's telling the truth. He's not going to say anything more until he has what he wants." "His demands will be met. The situation has become much more serious," one of the officials said. Skulduggery's head tilted.  
"How so?"  
"Some of the other Sanctuaries have searched through their files and gotten back to us. Quite a few of them have had break-ins of similar circumstance, or have sighted a woman of the mercenary's description. Egypt, the Czech Republic, France, Russia… the list goes on, but never the same Sanctuary twice. She's thorough too, and clever. She's never made herself noticeable enough for Sanctuaries to need to discuss her with one another."  
"Until now," Skulduggery said. "Working with Sanguine is what brought her to our attention. I doubt working with him wasn't a well calculated, strategic move."

"What makes you say that?" Valkyrie asked, raising an eyebrow. Sanguine's girlfriend being powerful didn't necessarily make her clever.  
"If she's smart enough to avoid repeated jobs on a certain Sanctuary to keep off the radar, I doubt she'd leave a thing like that to chance timing."  
"Oh."

Skulduggery turned to Ghastly. "Ysani needs to be moved as soon as possible. We need to find a prison to ship him to."  
"I agree," Ghastly said.  
"I'll get right to it," Grant told them, turning and leaving the room swiftly.

A soft buzzing noise sounded and Ghastly pulled his phone from his pocket. "Tanith's here. She wants to see the video." After texting a quick reply, Ghastly returned his phone to his pocket and led Valkyrie and Skulduggery in the direction of his office. Valkyrie was happy that Ghastly and Tanith were now together. It had been such a close call with Tanith and that remnant, and Valkyrie didn't like to think about what might have happened if they hadn't forced it out of her. Even so, she was still getting used to seeing them together all the time, especially when they got all lovey-dovey.

"Wow," was all Tanith said after watching the video. Ravel had joined them as soon as he could. He'd had so much work organising boring, political things that he hadn't even had a chance to watch the clip of the woman.  
"Wow indeed," he murmured.  
"She must have had a hell of a lot of training. Do you think we could find anyone who might have taught her?"  
"Not likely," Skulduggery answered, "I think she's too smart to leave anyone who she thought would talk alive."  
"Tell me about this deal the getaway driver has offered," Ravel said.

Shortly after explaining Ysani's conditions to Tanith and Ravel, Grant returned. "We've been granted permission to send him to Wooroona prison in Australia. They have top security, first-class cells and a perfect record. No one has ever broken out, nor has anyone ever been broken out," he told them. "We can escort him to our private airfield and have him on a jet out of here by midnight."  
"Sounds good," Ghastly said.  
"I shall inform Ysani of our proposal."

"Private cell?"  
"Yes."  
"First class?"  
"_Yes_," Drew assured Ysani, for what felt like the hundredth time.  
"Alright then. You've got yourself a deal."  
"If you don't give us enough information," Drew began, "the deal is off."  
"You'll get your info." Ysani waved his hand dismissively. "Now, I want breakfast."

"Breakfast doesn't sound too bad," Valkyrie commented, turning her view from the security screen to a mage munching on a muffin. She stared at it longingly, but quickly shifted her gaze when her stomach growled. "Food. Now." Valkyrie tugged on Skulduggery's sleeve, earning a sigh in response.  
"I'll take her," Tanith said, slinging an arm around Valkyrie's shoulder. "I skipped breakfast too, and I'm sure you guys will be very busy dealing with Ysani. I'll drop her home afterwards." The two girls left the Sanctuary promptly, walking down the corridors swiftly and without delay. Tanith walked over to where she had parked her motorbike, and a huge grin broke out on Valkyrie's face.

**I want to say a special thank you to Sly Sparrow, Realtawit, Emzeexx, Illuminating Colours and BethShadows for commenting/following/faving; it really means a lot to me. I also think it right to say that Seamus Ysani, Drew Grant, Wooroona Prison and of course Storm Slasher, are my original characters/names and will not be found in the books.**

**Also, some quick pronunciation things:**

**Ysani = Yuh-sah-nee**

**Wooroona... is a bit more complicated. Aussie name. Basically… imagine you're saying "woof", but without the f. The pronunciation for the Os after the r can be found using the same technique, then 'uh' for the last bit.**


	6. The Tip-Off

**Sorry I haven't updated recently! I've had tonnes of assessment and lots of stuff on and this weeked… this weekend… *sniffles* …. I GOT AND FINISHED DYING OF THE LIGHT AND PEOPLE I LOVED DIED AND IT WAS TRAGICALLY AMAZING AND NOW I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO COS SKULDUGGERY IS OVER! *cries into pillow*.**

The knock at the door made Storm pause. Billy-Ray was out getting them lunch―Thai takeaway, her favourite―but he couldn't be back yet. Besides, why would he knock? It could be a salesman, Storm guessed, or perhaps one of Billy-Ray's friends, considering this was his house. But as she couldn't be sure who it was, she thought it right to take a threatening-looking weapon with her to greet whoever it was. She slid her sunglasses onto her nose and flicked the hair from her face. Grabbing one of her scythes from the coffee table and dropping it lazily against her shoulder, Storm sauntered up to the front door. She wasn't worried. After all, the only person she knew of who even stood a _chance _against her was the person she had been training herself to fight for the last few hundred years. If she couldn't defeat him by now, she would begin to question what she had chosen to do with her life.

Peering through the door's peephole, Storm raised an eyebrow when she saw no one outside. She opened the door without caution, although her senses searched carefully for any sign of trouble. That was when she saw the note. Manipulating the air with refined skill, the piece of paper flew upwards and Storm snatched it. It was plain, white paper with a typed message on it. She skipped over the message and instead looked quickly to the bottom of the page, in search of a name. Whoever left the note was probably long gone by now, but even so, if it was someone Storm didn't want to remain living she wouldn't waste time with unnecessary reading.

The final sentence on the page read '_With regards, Your last employer'._ Storm shut the door quickly and sat down on the sofa. The warlock guy? She didn't know his name, but… actually, she couldn't remember what he looked like either. Perhaps he wanted her for another job. With a confused look on her face, Storm proceeded to read the letter:

'_I am aware that the man who acted as your getaway driver for your last job has been caught, and is currently being held in the Irish Sanctuary. He has agreed to talk in exchange for, amongst other things, protection. Tonight, he is being escorted to the Sanctuary's secret air field, located approximately 11 kilometres southeast of the Sanctuary. If you wish to continue to keep the details you have shared with him a secret, I suggest you take care of Ysani before he leaves the country.  
With regards, Your last employer'._

So her mysterious employee wanted Ysani dead? Why? Surely he would know that Ysani knew nothing about him. Heck, she and Billy-Ray didn't even really know about him. So why would he give her that information? Could it be a trap? To eliminate all knowledge of him? No. He wouldn't draw attention to himself to kill to people who didn't have any information on him. He seemed to be in deep with the Sanctuary, or at least have a friend or worker who was in deep with the Sanctuary. He'd want to keep it that way.

Storm's eyebrows furrowed as she considered all the options. She stopped when her mind wandered across a rather radical―but possible―answer. Could it be… that he was trying to _help_ her? Was it conceivable that he wanted to keep her around for other jobs, so when he came across the info on Ysani he gave it to her to provide her _assistance_? There had to be a catch. Maybe he would want a job done as a favour… No matter. Storm decided to trust the information. If all hell broke loose, so be it.

She fell back against the couch with a sigh. When Billy-Ray had first introduced her to Seamus, she had been furious. She found out he had told Ysani her _name. _Granted, it wasn't her given name―not even her original taken name―but now it was her real name_. _On top of that, he knew she was an elemental and he knew she wanted revenge on Pleasant. Sometimes Billy Ray's nonstop talking annoyed the _hell _out of her. If he hadn't said those things, Seamus could be allowed to live. Storm didn't want to kill Seamus. He loved cars and driving and was almost as good as her at poker and swore so much that it made her laugh. But a several month old friend wasn't going to stop her completing her multiple century-long quest.

A question which she had asked herself not too long ago rose in her mind once again; if Billy-Ray got in the way, would she kill him to destroy Pleasant? If there was no other way, and this would be her final chance to kill him, would she sacrifice her lover? The man who made her laugh, made her feel human again. The man who brought her up out of her pit of despair and obsession with nothing but killing the skeleton. Would she destroy him?

Storm pushed the thought from her mind and switched on the TV. _The Mentalist_ was on. It was a show she had started watching quite recently, and had found herself strangely enjoying it. Probably because she related so well to the protagonist, Patrick Jane. The rule-bending ex conman whose wife and child were viciously murdered by a serial killer named Red John, because of his own actions. Red John, who drew a smiley faces on the wall in his victims' blood. Patrick Jane, who was still trying to murder Red John years after the death of his family. Just like her. 

_That night, at the Sanctuary's private airfield…_

It wasn't called an airstrip for no reason. Surrounding the runway was nothing but flat ground for a hundred metres in every direction. No cover. Storm hated it. Oh, how she had wanted to just ambush the prisoner transport car, killed Ysani just like that. But that would mean revealing her powers, and _that _would mean involving other Sanctuaries.

Billy-Ray lay down in the grass next to her, fidgeting and looking everywhere but at the small jet waiting for Ysani's arrival. It'd hadn't been easy, convincing him that this was the right thing to do. _"We can't save him, not without revealing what I can do. You know that. If he lives, he'll tell them everything. They'll know my name, my powers… my plan… So many years of my life would have been wasted. He was always going to betray us, Billy-Ray." _The last part caught his attention. The more he considered it―and the more Storm rubbed his hand in sympathy―the more he believed it to be true. But still, it was never going to be easy for him to watch his girlfriend shoot his occasional partner. His friend.

She moved slowly, shifting the air around her slightly to throw off any elementals poking around trying to sense anyone's presence. The ground was hard and uncomfortable and the grass wasn't as tall as Storm would have liked, but the comforting weight of the sniper rifle in her hands was reassuring.

Soon enough a very unsuspicious, completely ordinary-looking van appeared from one of the roads leading from the airstrip, parking on the grass not far from the plane. A black Bentley followed close behind it, pulling up alongside. Through the scope of the rifle Storm spotted Pleasant and Cain exit the Bentley. Two men and a woman got out of the van and opened the back, letting out eight cleavers and then finally Ysani. Several people exited the plane and the groups began to walk towards each other. This was it. Storm aimed the gun at the centre of the group of cleavers, where Ysani walked. "Billy-Ray," she said softly, "now."

Sucking in a lungful of air to steady his breathing, Billy-Ray thumbed the trigger button in his hand. Storm cringed at the deafening sound of the blast, but smiled at the site. Everyone whipped around at the sound of the explosion, giving Storm the second-long opportunity she needed to pull the trigger. The sound of yet another explosion masked the sound of the shot. Although killing Ysani hadn't been Storm's first preference, she had to laugh at how long it took the Sanctuary workers to realise that the explosions were a decoy, and that Ysani was now lying dead on the ground with a bullet in his brain.

Though Storm didn't see it, Billy-Ray looked at her angrily. Had she just _laughed? _Sure, Billy-Ray laughed when he killed people all the time, and it was rather comical seeing the sorcerers frantically scamper around like that, but she laughed after killing his _friend? _She had said she didn't want to kill him, and that she was sorry, but after shooting him she _laughed? _Storm tugged on his sleeve and he obediently―if hesitantly―wrapped his arms around her, sinking gently into the ground.

His stomach screaming at him, Billy-Ray rose up from the ground a while away from the airstrip. Storm stretched and flexed her fingers, before raising both her and Billy-Ray into the air. At the signal of her hands they began moving forward together, picking up speed until they were flying faster than a speeding car, and still their speed increased. A barrier of air shielded them from the wind. Billy-Ray hadn't seen Storm use her powers much, but even from what he'd seen he knew she was beyond good. The best, he was sure. She could have saved Seamus. But she let him die, killed him. For her _plan._

After a few minutes of flying, Storm spun to face Billy-Ray. They still continued flying forwards at the same speed, and she used air vibrations as a guide to tell her when to change their course, lest they hit anything. "I can't remember the last time you were silent for this long," she commented, folding her arms. "You talk more in your sleep." There was no point in denying anything.  
"Seamus is _dead._ My _friend _is _dead_," Billy-Ray clenched his fists as he spoke.  
"He's in a better place."  
"What better place? You don't believe in any of that!"  
"He's free of this life. That's a better place."   
"You could'a saved him!" Billy-Ray yelled, silencing Storm. "Look at what you can do!" he said, gesturing at the rushing air and speeding scenery around them. "You could'a saved him without liftin' a finger."

Storm remained unfazed. Billy-Ray could feel her eyes boring down on him, even behind her glasses. "Tell me," she began, her voice slow and even, "if I had saved him, if I had waltzed over there all hellfire and hurricane, what would they have done? I could have gotten him out of there, sure, but to remove him from a group of cleavers and mages, featuring Cain and Pleasant? Strong warriors willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good? It would have taken a lot of effort, showing off the incredibly great extent to which I have mastered control over elemental magic." Billy-Ray had heard this bit before, but he could tell Storm was about to tell him something else. Something that would change his mind.

"You don't understand the magnitude of my powers, Sanguine. You don't know what I can do. If they saw, they would know they have no choice but to call upon other Sanctuaries for help. Sanctuaries from all around the world." She leaned in, her voice a whisper. "I'm one girl. Granted, I'm one very, _very_ powerful girl, but protecting both you and Seamus from armies of the world's most powerful sorcerers? We wouldn't last."  
"I can protect myself."  
"Not from everyone, you can't. Certainly not from Pleasant. Seamus was a coward, a traitor of sorts. Sooner or later he would have traded in information on us to secure his comfort, as he nearly succeeded in doing today. You know this."

Billy-Ray said nothing. Dang it, he hated it when she was right about these things. It made him feel stupid and pathetic. Storm floated a little closer and kissed him gently, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry." She pushed her sunglasses up onto her head, to show him the true sincerity in her eyes. Her beautiful eyes, which she had hidden away for hundreds of years, showing to no one but him. The eyes which, if seen, would reveal her identity to Pleasant. Billy-Ray wrapped his arms around Storm's waist and sighed.

**I'm going to warn you, a large part of the next chapter was handwritten in a book and I need to type it up, so I know I will put it off. I'll try not to. **


End file.
